立即打开
谷歌女高管步步领先的秘诀

谷歌女高管步步领先的秘诀

Colleen Leahey 2011年12月06日
玛丽莎•梅耶尔是谷歌公司(Google)首位女性工程师,现任谷歌公司本地业务副总裁。同时也是《财富》杂志最具影响力女性榜单上有史以来最年轻的上榜人物。她以开门见山的谈话方式促成了谷歌对扎格特网站的收购。

    玛丽莎•梅耶尔是民间“极客时尚”风潮的先锋。她是谷歌公司(Google)首位女性工程师,现任谷歌公司本地业务副总裁。梅耶尔曾登上了《VOGUE》杂志封面,成为财富杂志(Fortune)40位 40岁以下商界精英特刊的封面人物;同时还获得了《名利场》(Vanity Fair)2011年度全球最佳着装名单(2011 International Best Dressed List)的提名。此外,她还是女性创办的公司桦盈公司(Minted)和家居装饰网站One Kings Lane的天使投资人。梅耶尔还是《财富》杂志及美国国务院国际联合导师项目的导师,指导冉冉升起的女性新星——她甚至让学员住进自己家中。

    梅耶尔在本职工作之外的表现有时候反而容易使人们忽略一个事实。现年36岁的梅耶尔事实上是《财富》杂志最具影响力女性榜单上有史以来最最年轻的上榜人物。对于如何才能做到步步领先,她非常精通。诚然,她运气颇佳;但是,她绝对天资聪慧,同时富有战略眼光。11月29日,梅耶尔在《财富》杂志最具影响力商界女性晚宴上接受了我们的采访,风趣却又坦诚地介绍了自己的成功之道。

有时候需要开门见山

    当初,著名的餐馆网站创始人蒂姆•扎格特和妮娜•扎格特突然出现在梅耶尔发表演讲的两个会议上——并且就坐在她面前的第一排时,梅耶尔发现,自己处在了生命中一个奇怪却又非常重要的时刻。那是他们第一次见面,蒂姆径直走向梅耶尔,递给她一张名片,有些不自然地说:“欢迎你的到来。”

    之后不久,扎格特夫妇再次成为梅耶尔纽约演讲会的听众,并坐在会场前排的中间位置。这一次,蒂姆邀请梅耶尔加入他的葡萄酒俱乐部。

    梅耶尔说:“我觉得扎格特夫妇一路都在追随我的脚步,参加我的演讲会。”但她还是掌握了主动,邀请妮娜•扎格特共进午餐。谷歌公司负责并购业务的高管尼拉吉•亚罗拉曾警告梅耶尔:“千万不要谈收购。” 但是,就在他们于Jean Georges(妮娜推荐了这家昂贵的餐厅)用餐的那天,他们继续了之前在哥伦布广场扎格特办公室中的对话,梅耶尔禁不住谈到了收购。她脱口而出:“我们今天在这里会面,可能得谈谈收购的问题。”

    事实上,她的率直真的奏效了。谷歌一直希望避免陷入竞购战——在双方相互了解后,扎格特夫妇同意在接下来的几个月与谷歌公司进行单独会谈。谈判进入最后阶段时,梅耶尔才认识到这个简单的真理:“有时候需要开门见山。” 周五,谷歌向扎格特递交了草案,随后的周一就敲定了交易。会谈本来可以通过电话进行,但是梅耶尔认为面谈效果最好。所以,在四天的时间中,她和她的团队乘坐了两个长途夜行航班。梅耶尔回忆道:“妮娜说,‘这是一个小小的试验。效果可谓立竿见影’,他们好比是在问:‘这(谷歌)是一个值得合作的好团队吗?他们希望与我们达成怎样的人际关系?如果他们回来找我们,我们愿意 [与他们]合作。’”

    9月,谷歌收购了扎格特——鉴于谷歌公司对本地业务、移动和社交产品的重视,梅耶尔认为这是一次理想的收购。

    Marissa Mayer has been a pioneer in the unofficial "Geek is Chic" movement. Google's (GOOG) first female engineer, who is now the company's VP in charge of all things local, has appeared in Vogue, rocked the cover of Fortune's 40-Under-40 issue, and been nominated for Vanity Fair's 2011 International Best Dressed List. She is an angel investor in female-founded companies like Minted and One King's Lane. Mayer also mentors rising-star women through the Fortune/U.S. State Department international mentoring program -- and even has her mentees stay under her roof.

    Sometimes her extracurriculars drown out the recognition that Mayer, who is 36 and the youngest star ever on Fortune's Most Powerful Women list, knows precisely how to get ahead. Sure, she's been lucky. But she is also clever and strategic. On Tuesday, in a funny and candid interview at Fortune's Most Powerful Women dinner in Silicon Valley, Mayer explained how she does it.

Sometimes you just need to show up.

    Mayer found herself in an odd and maybe fateful situation when Tim and Nina Zagat, the famous restaurant raters, popped up at two conferences where she was speaking -- and sat before her in the front row. The first time they met, Tim walked up to Mayer, handed her his business card, and gruffly said, 'Welcome to local."

    Shortly after, in New York, the Zagats were in the audience again, front and center. And this time, Tim asked her to join his wine club.

    "I think that the Zagats are conference-stalking me," thought Mayer, who took control of the flirtation by asking Nina Zagat to lunch. Mayer was warned by Google M&A exec Neeraj Arora: "Don't say the acquisition word." But on the day they dined at New York's Jean-Georges (Nina's pricey suggestion) and continued their conversation at Zagat's Columbus Circle offices, Mayer couldn't help herself. She blurted: "Well, we're here to talk to you, maybe, possibly, about an… acquisition,"

    Actually, her directness worked. Google wanted to avoid a bidding war -- and the Zagats agreed to talk exclusively to Google over the months that they got to know each other. "There are times when you just have to show up," says Mayer, who learned this simple truth as the negotiations hit the final stage. Google left Zagat with a proposed deal on a Friday, to be finalized Monday. The talks could have taken place over the phone, but Mayer believed in-person was best. So she and her team did two red-eyes in four days. "Nina said, 'That was our litmus test,'" recalls Mayer. "They were like, 'Is this a good team to work with? How much of a personal connection do they want with us? If they come back, we want to be with [them].'"

    In September, Google acquired Zagat -- an ideal fit, Mayer believes, given Google's focus on local, mobile and social offerings.

  • 热读文章
  • 热门视频
活动
扫码打开财富Plus App